Sustainable, sovereign and resilient food systems is the goal of agroecology, which experts qualify as a science that facilitates the transformation towards a new model of agriculture.
By María Josefina Arce
Sustainable, sovereign and resilient food systems is the goal of agroecology, which experts qualify as a science that facilitates the transformation towards a new model of agriculture.
In the face of the challenge posed by climate change, agroecology makes it possible to minimize damage from meteorological events, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the degradation of natural resources.
For Cuba, which is highly vulnerable due to its insular condition, the advancement of this practice is an imperative and is part of the policy of the authorities. In fact, it occupies a fundamental place in the Law on Food Sovereignty and Food and Nutritional Security, approved last May by the National Assembly of People's Power.
The legislation is novel in that sense, stressing the importance of the rational use of natural resources and greater use of renewable energy sources.
The country has great potential, highlighted by experts. The head of the European Union Cooperation in Cuba, Juan Garay, has stressed that the Caribbean nation has a high professional capacity, with institutions and research centers, but it also has the natural knowledge and experience of those who have been working the land for several generations.
Although in recent times this science has been gaining more ground, the work in this area is not new. At the time, specialists recall, the historic leader of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro, encouraged the development of programs of biological means and urban, suburban and family agriculture.
At present, a new cooperation project in this field is being developed in Cuba with financing from the European Union, which will support knowledge management and technology transfer in agroecology.
Its results will contribute to strategic axes in Cuba's Development Plan until 2030 and the Territorial Development Policy implemented by the government.
Eight municipalities in the western, central and eastern regions of the country will benefit from this program, in which the Ministry of Agriculture and FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, are participating.
A total of 7,200,000 people and 14 institutions will benefit directly from the implementation of the initiative and indirectly more than 200,000 inhabitants of these areas.
The project seeks to take advantage of the successful experiences of different organizations and research institutions in the Greater Antilles, which have proven their worth.
Committed to caring for the environment, Cuba is betting on this science to achieve food self-sufficiency and advance in the food security of its citizens, in view of the high prices in the international market and the obstacles imposed by the U.S. blockade.
